Fact of the day

At the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Fritz Thiedemann - who had commanded a German cavalry unit during World War Two before being captured towards the end and interned in a Russian prison camp - created a unique piece of history. The farmer's son earned bronze medals in both individual show jumping and team dressage to become the only rider in Olympic history to win medals in two equestrian disciplines at the same Games. He went on to gold medals in team jumping at the 1956 Olympics, when the equestrian events were held in Stockholm, and Rome 1960. The Thiedemann rein is named after him.

Africa could host Olympics but suffers from "prejudice" claims Hayatou

Sunday, 10 February 2013

By Duncan Mackay

February 10 - Africa has several countries capable already of hosting the Olympics and Paralympics but is being denied the opportunity because of "prejudice" it has been claimed by Issa Hayatou, President of the Confederation of African Football (CAF).

The Cameroonian (pictured above left), who is also a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), made the claim as the African Cup of Nations came to a successful conclusion in Johannesburg tonight when Nigeria beat Burkina Faso 1-0 in the final in Johannesburg.

The tournament follows South Africa's highly-acclaimed staging of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the first time the event had been awarded to an African country.

"South Africa can definitely organise the Olympic Games, with its infrastructure, hotels, communications, transport," Hayatou said in an interview to be broadcast on CNN tomorrow.

"I don't know if there are 10 countries in Europe that can be better than South Africa in that respect."

Hayatou was accompanied at the final by South African President Jacob Zuma and Sepp Blatter, the President of FIFA and a fellow IOC member, who is regarded highly in Africa after he backed the continent's hosting of the World Cup.

FIFA President Sepp Blatter is regarded as a hero in Africa after he backed their staging of the 2010 World Cup - now they hope he will support a bid to host the Olympics

Cape Town had bid unsuccessfully for the 2004 Olympics, which were awarded to Athens, coming third in the five-city race.

Durban had been widely expected to bid for the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics but were forced to scrap the plans because of lack of support from the Government.

"But there are other countries in Africa that can organise an Olympic Games like Morocco, Egypt, Algeria - I could also include Nigeria," said Hayatou.

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